Method for establishing SDAP entity by relay node in wireless communication system and apparatus therefor

ABSTRACT

A method for processing signals by a relay node in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method comprises receiving Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) configuration from a network; when a field included in the received SDAP configuration is a special value, establishing an SDAP entity for control data based on the SDAP configuration; and transmitting and receiving the control data via the SDAP entity, wherein the special value is excluded from identities for a PDU session for user data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(a), this application claims the benefit ofearlier filing date and right of priority to KR Patent Application No.10-2018-0070128, filed on Jun. 19, 2018, the contents of which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, andmore particularly, to a method for establishing a Service DataAdaptation Protocol (SDAP) entity by a relay node in a wirelesscommunication system and an apparatus therefor.

Discussion of the Related Art

Introduction of new radio communication technologies has led toincreases in the number of user equipments (UEs) to which a base station(BS) provides services in a prescribed resource region, and has also ledto increases in the amount of data and control information that the BStransmits to the UEs. Due to typically limited resources available tothe BS for communication with the UE(s), new techniques are needed bywhich the BS utilizes the limited radio resources to efficientlyreceive/transmit uplink/downlink data and/or uplink/downlink controlinformation. In particular, overcoming delay or latency has become animportant challenge in applications whose performance critically dependson delay/latency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method forestablishing a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) entity by a relaynode in a wireless communication system and an apparatus therefor, whichsubstantially obviate one or more problems due to limitations anddisadvantages of the related art.

Additional advantages, objects, and features of the specification willbe set forth in part in the description which follows and in part willbecome apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art uponexamination of the following or may be learned from practice of thespecification. The objectives and other advantages of the specificationmay be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed outin the written description and claims hereof as well as the appendeddrawings.

A method for processing signals by a relay node in a wirelesscommunication system according to the embodiment of the presentinvention comprises the steps of receiving Service Data AdaptationProtocol (SDAP) configuration from a network. When a field included inthe received SDAP configuration is a special value, establishing an SDAPentity for control data based on the SDAP configuration; andtransmitting and receiving the control data via the SDAP entity, whereinthe special value is excluded from identities for a PDU session for userdata.

Further, an apparatus in a wireless communication system according tothe embodiment of the present invention comprises a memory; and at leastone processor coupled to the memory and configured to receive ServiceData Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) configuration from a network. when afield included in the received SDAP configuration is a special value,establish an SDAP entity for control data based on the SDAPconfiguration; and transmit and receiving the control data via the SDAPentity, wherein the special value is excluded from identities for a PDUsession for user data.

Preferably, information about the special value may be received from thenetwork in advance.

Preferably, when the field included in the received SDAP configurationis not the special value, an SDAP entity for the user data isestablished based on the SDAP configuration.

Alternatively, when the field is not included in the received SDAPconfiguration, the SDAP entity for control data is established based onthe SDAP configuration.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that that theeffects that can be achieved through the present invention are notlimited to what has been particularly described hereinabove and otheradvantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood fromthe following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, illustrate embodiments of the inventionand together with the description serve to explain the principle of theinvention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a network structure of anevolved universal mobile telecommunication system (E-UMTS) as anexemplary radio communication system;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an evolveduniversal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN);

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting an example of an architecture of atypical E-UTRAN and a typical EPC;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a control plane and a userplane of a radio interface protocol between a UE and an E-UTRAN based ona 3GPP radio access network standard;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a physical channel structureused in an E-UMTS system;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of protocol stacks of a next generationwireless communication system;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a data flow example at a transmittingdevice in the NR system;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a slot structure available in a newradio access technology (NR);

FIG. 9 shows a structure for the SDAP sublayer;

FIG. 10 shows integrated access and backhaul (IAB) based RANarchitectures;

FIG. 11 shows user plane (UP) radio protocol stacks for sending RRCmessages in IAB based RAN architectures;

FIG. 12 shows a flow chart for processing signals according to anembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of elements of atransmitting device 100 and a receiving device 200 according to someimplementations of the present disclosure

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The technical objects that can be achieved through the presentdisclosure are not limited to what has been particularly describedhereinabove and other technical objects not described herein will bemore clearly understood by persons skilled in the art from the followingdetailed description.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a network structure of anE-UMTS as an exemplary radio communication system. An Evolved UniversalMobile Telecommunications System (E-UMTS) is an advanced version of aUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and basicstandardization thereof is currently underway in the 3GPP. E-UMTS may begenerally referred to as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. For detailsof the technical specifications of the UMTS and E-UMTS, reference can bemade to Release 7 and Release 8 of “3rd Generation Partnership Project;Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network”.

Referring to FIG. 1, the E-UMTS includes a User Equipment (UE), eNode Bs(eNBs), and an Access Gateway (AG) which is located at an end of thenetwork (E-UTRAN) and connected to an external network. The eNBs maysimultaneously transmit multiple data streams for a broadcast service, amulticast service, and/or a unicast service.

One or more cells may exist per eNB. The cell is set to operate in oneof bandwidths such as 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz and provides adownlink (DL) or uplink (UL) transmission service to a plurality of UEsin the bandwidth. Different cells may be set to provide differentbandwidths. The eNB controls data transmission or reception to and froma plurality of UEs. The eNB transmits DL scheduling information of DLdata to a corresponding UE so as to inform the UE of a time/frequencydomain in which the DL data is supposed to be transmitted, coding, adata size, and hybrid automatic repeat and request (HARQ)-relatedinformation. In addition, the eNB transmits UL scheduling information ofUL data to a corresponding UE so as to inform the UE of a time/frequencydomain which may be used by the UE, coding, a data size, andHARQ-related information. An interface for transmitting user traffic orcontrol traffic may be used between eNBs. A core network (CN) mayinclude the AG and a network node or the like for user registration ofUEs. The AG manages the mobility of a UE on a tracking area (TA) basis.One TA includes a plurality of cells.

Although wireless communication technology has been developed to LTEbased on wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), the demands andexpectations of users and service providers are on the rise. Inaddition, considering other radio access technologies under development,new technological evolution is required to secure high competitivenessin the future. Decrease in cost per bit, increase in serviceavailability, flexible use of frequency bands, a simplified structure,an open interface, appropriate power consumption of UEs, and the likeare required.

As more and more communication devices demand larger communicationcapacity, there is a need for improved mobile broadband communicationcompared to existing RAT. Also, massive machine type communication(MTC), which provides various services by connecting many devices andobjects, is one of the major issues to be considered in the nextgeneration communication. In addition, a communication system designconsidering a service/UE sensitive to reliability and latency is beingdiscussed. The introduction of next-generation RAT, which takes intoaccount such advanced mobile broadband communication, massive MTC(mMCT), and ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC), isbeing discussed.

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary implementations ofthe present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. The detailed description, which will be givenbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings, is intended toexplain exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, rather thanto show the only implementations that can be implemented according tothe disclosure. The following detailed description includes specificdetails in order to provide a thorough understanding of the presentdisclosure. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat the present disclosure may be practiced without such specificdetails.

The following techniques, apparatuses, and systems may be applied to avariety of wireless multiple access systems. Examples of the multipleaccess systems include a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, afrequency division multiple access (FDMA) system, a time divisionmultiple access (TDMA) system, an orthogonal frequency division multipleaccess (OFDMA) system, a single carrier frequency division multipleaccess (SC-FDMA) system, and a multicarrier frequency division multipleaccess (MC-FDMA) system. CDMA may be embodied through radio technologysuch as universal terrestrial radio access (UTRA) or CDMA2000. TDMA maybe embodied through radio technology such as global system for mobilecommunications (GSM), general packet radio service (GPRS), or enhanceddata rates for GSM evolution (EDGE). OFDMA may be embodied through radiotechnology such as institute of electrical and electronics engineers(IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, or evolved UTRA(E-UTRA). UTRA is a part of a universal mobile telecommunications system(UMTS). 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution(LTE) is a part of evolved UMTS (E-UMTS) using E-UTRA. 3GPP LTE employsOFDMA in DL and SC-FDMA in UL. LTE-advanced (LTE-A) is an evolvedversion of 3GPP LTE. For convenience of description, implementations ofthe present disclosure are described in regards to a 3GPP based wirelesscommunication system. However, the technical features of the presentdisclosure are not limited thereto. For example, although the followingdetailed description is given based on a mobile communication systemcorresponding to a 3GPP based system, aspects of the present disclosurethat are not limited to 3GPP based system are applicable to other mobilecommunication systems.

For example, the present disclosure is applicable to contention basedcommunication such as Wi-Fi as well as non-contention basedcommunication as in the 3GPP based system in which a BS allocates aDL/UL time/frequency resource to a UE and the UE receives a DL signaland transmits a UL signal according to resource allocation of the BS. Ina non-contention based communication scheme, an access point (AP) or acontrol node for controlling the AP allocates a resource forcommunication between the UE and the AP, whereas, in a contention basedcommunication scheme, a communication resource is occupied throughcontention between UEs which desire to access the AP. The contentionbased communication scheme will now be described in brief. One type ofthe contention based communication scheme is carrier sense multipleaccess (CSMA). CSMA refers to a probabilistic media access control (MAC)protocol for confirming, before a node or a communication devicetransmits traffic on a shared transmission medium (also called a sharedchannel) such as a frequency band, that there is no other traffic on thesame shared transmission medium. In CSMA, a transmitting devicedetermines whether another transmission is being performed beforeattempting to transmit traffic to a receiving device. In other words,the transmitting device attempts to detect presence of a carrier fromanother transmitting device before attempting to perform transmission.Upon sensing the carrier, the transmitting device waits for anothertransmission device which is performing transmission to finishtransmission, before performing transmission thereof. Consequently, CSMAcan be a communication scheme based on the principle of “sense beforetransmit” or “listen before talk”. A scheme for avoiding collisionbetween transmitting devices in the contention based communicationsystem using CSMA includes carrier sense multiple access with collisiondetection (CSMA/CD) and/or carrier sense multiple access with collisionavoidance (CSMA/CA). CSMA/CD is a collision detection scheme in a wiredlocal area network (LAN) environment. In CSMA/CD, a personal computer(PC) or a server which desires to perform communication in an Ethernetenvironment first confirms whether communication occurs on a networkand, if another device carries data on the network, the PC or the serverwaits and then transmits data. That is, when two or more users (e.g.PCs, UEs, etc.) simultaneously transmit data, collision occurs betweensimultaneous transmission and CSMA/CD is a scheme for flexiblytransmitting data by monitoring collision. A transmitting device usingCSMA/CD adjusts data transmission thereof by sensing data transmissionperformed by another device using a specific rule. CSMA/CA is a MACprotocol specified in IEEE 802.11 standards. A wireless LAN (WLAN)system conforming to IEEE 802.11 standards does not use CSMA/CD whichhas been used in IEEE 802.3 standards and uses CA, i.e. a collisionavoidance scheme. Transmission devices always sense carrier of a networkand, if the network is empty, the transmission devices wait fordetermined time according to locations thereof registered in a list andthen transmit data. Various methods are used to determine priority ofthe transmission devices in the list and to reconfigure priority. In asystem according to some versions of IEEE 802.11 standards, collisionmay occur and, in this case, a collision sensing procedure is performed.A transmission device using CSMA/CA avoids collision between datatransmission thereof and data transmission of another transmissiondevice using a specific rule.

In the present disclosure, a user equipment (UE) may be a fixed ormobile device. Examples of the UE include various devices that transmitand receive user data and/or various kinds of control information to andfrom a base station (BS). The UE may be referred to as a terminalequipment (TE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), a userterminal (UT), a subscriber station (SS), a wireless device, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a handheld device, etc. Inaddition, in the present disclosure, a BS generally refers to a fixedstation that performs communication with a UE and/or another BS, andexchanges various kinds of data and control information with the UE andanother BS. The BS may be referred to as an advanced base station (ABS),a node-B (NB), an evolved node-B (eNB), a base transceiver system (BTS),an access point (AP), a processing server (PS), etc. Especially, a BS ofthe UMTS is referred to as a NB, a BS of the EPC/LTE is referred to asan eNB, and a BS of the new radio (NR) system is referred to as a gNB.

In the present disclosure, a node refers to a fixed point capable oftransmitting/receiving a radio signal through communication with a UE.Various types of BSs may be used as nodes irrespective of the termsthereof. For example, a BS, a node B (NB), an e-node B (eNB), apico-cell eNB (PeNB), a home eNB (HeNB), a relay, a repeater, etc. maybe a node. In addition, the node may not be a BS. For example, the nodemay be a radio remote head (RRH) or a radio remote unit (RRU). The RRHor RRU generally has a lower power level than a power level of a BS.Since the RRH or RRU (hereinafter, RRH/RRU) is generally connected tothe BS through a dedicated line such as an optical cable, cooperativecommunication between RRH/RRU and the BS can be smoothly performed incomparison with cooperative communication between BSs connected by aradio line. At least one antenna is installed per node. The antenna mayinclude a physical antenna or an antenna port or a virtual antenna.

In the present disclosure, a cell refers to a prescribed geographicalarea to which one or more nodes provide a communication service.Accordingly, in the present disclosure, communicating with a specificcell may include communicating with a BS or a node which provides acommunication service to the specific cell. In addition, a DL/UL signalof a specific cell refers to a DL/UL signal from/to a BS or a node whichprovides a communication service to the specific cell. A node providingUL/DL communication services to a UE is called a serving node and a cellto which UL/DL communication services are provided by the serving nodeis especially called a serving cell.

In some scenarios, a 3GPP based system implements a cell to manage radioresources and a cell associated with the radio resources isdistinguished from a cell of a geographic region.

A “cell” of a geographic region may be understood as coverage withinwhich a node can provide service using a carrier and a “cell” of a radioresource is associated with bandwidth (BW) which is a frequency rangeconfigured by the carrier. Since DL coverage, which is a range withinwhich the node is capable of transmitting a valid signal, and ULcoverage, which is a range within which the node is capable of receivingthe valid signal from the UE, depends upon a carrier carrying thesignal, the coverage of the node may be associated with coverage of the“cell” of a radio resource used by the node. Accordingly, the term“cell” may be used to indicate service coverage of the node sometimes, aradio resource at other times, or a range that a signal using a radioresource can reach with valid strength at other times.

In some scenarios, the recent 3GPP based wireless communication standardimplements a cell to manage radio resources. The “cell” associated withthe radio resources utilizes a combination of downlink resources anduplink resources, for example, a combination of DL component carrier(CC) and UL CC. The cell may be configured by downlink resources only,or may be configured by downlink resources and uplink resources. Ifcarrier aggregation is supported, linkage between a carrier frequency ofthe downlink resources (or DL CC) and a carrier frequency of the uplinkresources (or UL CC) may be indicated by system information. Forexample, combination of the DL resources and the UL resources may beindicated by linkage of system information block type 2 (SIB2). In thiscase, the carrier frequency may be a center frequency of each cell orCC. A cell operating on a primary frequency may be referred to as aprimary cell (Pcell) or PCC, and a cell operating on a secondaryfrequency may be referred to as a secondary cell (Scell) or SCC. Thecarrier corresponding to the Pcell on downlink will be referred to as adownlink primary CC (DL PCC), and the carrier corresponding to the Pcellon uplink will be referred to as an uplink primary CC (UL PCC). A Scellrefers to a cell that may be configured after completion of radioresource control (RRC) connection establishment and used to provideadditional radio resources. The Scell may form a set of serving cellsfor the UE together with the Pcell in accordance with capabilities ofthe UE. The carrier corresponding to the Scell on the downlink will bereferred to as downlink secondary CC (DL SCC), and the carriercorresponding to the Scell on the uplink will be referred to as uplinksecondary CC (UL SCC). Although the UE is in RRC-CONNECTED state, if itis not configured by carrier aggregation or does not support carrieraggregation, a single serving cell configured by the Pcell only exists.

In the present disclosure, “PDCCH” refers to a PDCCH, an EPDCCH (insubframes when configured), a MTC PDCCH (MPDCCH), for an RN with R-PDCCHconfigured and not suspended, to the R-PDCCH or, for NB-IoT to thenarrowband PDCCH (NPDCCH).

In the present disclosure, monitoring a channel refers to attempting todecode the channel. For example, monitoring a PDCCH refers to attemptingto decode PDCCH(s) (or PDCCH candidates).

For terms and technologies which are not specifically described amongthe terms of and technologies employed in this specification, 3GPPLTE/LTE-A standard documents, for example, 3GPP TS 36.211, 3GPP TS36.212, 3GPP TS 36.213, 3GPP TS 36.300, 3GPP TS 36.321, 3GPP TS 36.322,3GPP TS 36.323 and 3GPP TS 36.331, and 3GPP NR standard documents, forexample, 3GPP TS 38.211, 3GPP TS 38.213, 3GPP TS 38.214, 3GPP TS 38.300,3GPP TS 38.321, 3GPP TS 38.322, 3GPP TS 38.323 and 3GPP TS 38.331 may bereferenced.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an evolveduniversal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN). The E-UMTS may bealso referred to as an LTE system. The communication network is widelydeployed to provide a variety of communication services such as voice(VoIP) through IMS and packet data.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the E-UMTS network includes an evolved UMTSterrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), an Evolved Packet Core (EPC)and one or more user equipment. The E-UTRAN may include one or moreevolved NodeB (eNodeB) 20, and a plurality of user equipments (UE) 10may be located in one cell. One or more E-UTRAN mobility managemententity (MME)/system architecture evolution (SAE) gateways 30 may bepositioned at the end of the network and connected to an externalnetwork.

As used herein, “downlink” refers to communication from BS 20 to UE 10,and “uplink” refers to communication from the UE to a BS.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting an example of an architecture of atypical E-UTRAN and a typical EPC.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, an eNB 20 provides end points of a user planeand a control plane to the UE 10. MME/SAE gateway 30 provides an endpoint of a session and mobility management function for UE 10. The eNBand MME/SAE gateway may be connected via an S1 interface.

The eNB 20 is generally a fixed station that communicates with a UE 10,and may also be referred to as a base station (BS) or an access point.One eNB 20 may be deployed per cell. An interface for transmitting usertraffic or control traffic may be used between eNBs 20.

The MME provides various functions including NAS signaling to eNBs 20,NAS signaling security, access stratum (AS) Security control, Inter CNnode signaling for mobility between 3GPP access networks, Idle mode UEReachability (including control and execution of paging retransmission),Tracking Area list management (for UE in idle and active mode), PDN GWand Serving GW selection, MME selection for handovers with MME change,SGSN selection for handovers to 2G or 3G 3GPP access networks, roaming,authentication, bearer management functions including dedicated bearerestablishment, support for PWS (which includes ETWS and CMAS) messagetransmission. The SAE gateway host provides assorted functions includingPer-user based packet filtering (by e.g. deep packet inspection), LawfulInterception, UE IP address allocation, Transport level packet markingin the downlink, UL and DL service level charging, gating and rateenforcement, DL rate enforcement based on APN-AMBR. For clarity MME/SAEgateway 30 will be referred to herein simply as a “gateway,” but it isunderstood that this entity includes both an MME and an SAE gateway.

A plurality of nodes may be connected between eNB 20 and gateway 30 viathe S1 interface. The eNBs 20 may be connected to each other via an X2interface and neighboring eNBs may have a meshed network structure thathas the X2 interface.

As illustrated, eNB 20 may perform functions of selection for gateway30, routing toward the gateway during a Radio Resource Control (RRC)activation, scheduling and transmitting of paging messages, schedulingand transmitting of Broadcast Channel (BCCH) information, dynamicallocation of resources to UEs 10 in both uplink and downlink,configuration and provisioning of eNB measurements, radio bearercontrol, radio admission control (RAC), and connection mobility controlin LTE_ACTIVE state. In the EPC, and as noted above, gateway 30 mayperform functions of paging origination, LTE-IDLE state management,ciphering of the user plane, System Architecture Evolution (SAE) bearercontrol, and ciphering and integrity protection of Non-Access Stratum(NAS) signaling.

The EPC includes a mobility management entity (MME), a serving-gateway(S-GW), and a packet data network-gateway (PDN-GW). The MME hasinformation about connections and capabilities of UEs, mainly for use inmanaging the mobility of the UEs. The S-GW is a gateway having theE-UTRAN as an end point, and the PDN-GW is a gateway having a packetdata network (PDN) as an end point.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a control plane and a userplane of a radio interface protocol between a UE and an E-UTRAN based ona 3GPP radio access network standard. The control plane refers to a pathused for transmitting control messages used for managing a call betweenthe UE and the E-UTRAN. The user plane refers to a path used fortransmitting data generated in an application layer, e.g., voice data orInternet packet data.

Layer 1 (i.e. L1) of the 3GPP LTE/LTE-A system is corresponding to aphysical layer. A physical (PHY) layer of a first layer (Layer 1 or L1)provides an information transfer service to a higher layer using aphysical channel. The PHY layer is connected to a medium access control(MAC) layer located on the higher layer via a transport channel. Data istransported between the MAC layer and the PHY layer via the transportchannel Data is transported between a physical layer of a transmittingside and a physical layer of a receiving side via physical channels. Thephysical channels use time and frequency as radio resources. In detail,the physical channel is modulated using an orthogonal frequency divisionmultiple access (OFDMA) scheme in downlink and is modulated using asingle carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) scheme inuplink.

Layer 2 (i.e. L2) of the 3GPP LTE/LTE-A system is split into thefollowing sublayers: Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control(RLC) and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP). The MAC layer of asecond layer (Layer 2 or L2) provides a service to a radio link control(RLC) layer of a higher layer via a logical channel. The RLC layer ofthe second layer supports reliable data transmission. A function of theRLC layer may be implemented by a functional block of the MAC layer. Apacket data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer of the second layerperforms a header compression function to reduce unnecessary controlinformation for efficient transmission of an Internet protocol (IP)packet such as an IP version 4 (IPv4) packet or an IP version 6 (IPv6)packet in a radio interface having a relatively small bandwidth.

The main services and functions of the MAC sublayer include: mappingbetween logical channels and transport channels;multiplexing/demultiplexing of MAC SDUs belonging to one or differentlogical channels into/from transport blocks (TB) delivered to/from thephysical layer on transport channels; scheduling information reporting;error correction through HARQ; priority handling between logicalchannels of one UE; priority handling between UEs by dynamic scheduling;MBMS service identification; transport format selection; and padding.

The main services and functions of the RLC sublayer include: transfer ofupper layer protocol data units (PDUs); error correction through ARQ(only for acknowledged mode (AM) data transfer); concatenation,segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs) (only forunacknowledged mode (UM) and acknowledged mode (AM) data transfer);re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs (only for AM data transfer); reorderingof RLC data PDUs (only for UM and AM data transfer); duplicate detection(only for UM and AM data transfer); protocol error detection (only forAM data transfer); RLC SDU discard (only for UM and AM data transfer);and RLC re-establishment, except for a NB-IoT UE that only uses ControlPlane CIoT EPS optimizations.

The main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the user planeinclude: header compression and decompression (ROHC only); transfer ofuser data; in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at PDCPre-establishment procedure for RLC AM; for split bearers in DC and LWAbearers (only support for RLC AM), PDCP PDU routing for transmission andPDCP PDU reordering for reception; duplicate detection of lower layerSDUs at PDCP re-establishment procedure for RLC AM; retransmission ofPDCP SDUs at handover and, for split bearers in DC and LWA bearers, ofPDCP PDUs at PDCP data-recovery procedure, for RLC AM; ciphering anddeciphering; timer-based SDU discard in uplink. The main services andfunctions of the PDCP for the control plane include: ciphering andintegrity protection; and transfer of control plane data. For split andLWA bearers, PDCP supports routing and reordering. For DRBs mapped onRLC AM and for LWA bearers, the PDCP entity uses the reordering functionwhen the PDCP entity is associated with two AM RLC entities, when thePDCP entity is configured for a LWA bearer; or when the PDCP entity isassociated with one AM RLC entity after it was, according to the mostrecent reconfiguration, associated with two AM RLC entities orconfigured for a LWA bearer without performing PDCP re-establishment.

Layer 3 (i.e. L3) of the LTE/LTE-A system includes the followingsublayers: Radio Resource Control (RRC) and Non Access Stratum (NAS). Aradio resource control (RRC) layer located at the bottom of a thirdlayer is defined only in the control plane. The RRC layer controlslogical channels, transport channels, and physical channels in relationto configuration, re-configuration, and release of radio bearers (RBs).An RB refers to a service that the second layer provides for datatransmission between the UE and the E-UTRAN. To this end, the RRC layerof the UE and the RRC layer of the E-UTRAN exchange RRC messages witheach other. The non-access stratum (NAS) layer positioned over the RRClayer performs functions such as session management and mobilitymanagement.

Radio bearers are roughly classified into (user) data radio bearers(DRBs) and signaling radio bearers (SRBs). SRBs are defined as radiobearers (RBs) that are used only for the transmission of RRC and NASmessages.

In LTE, one cell of the eNB is set to operate in one of bandwidths suchas 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz and provides a downlink or uplinktransmission service to a plurality of UEs in the bandwidth. Differentcells may be set to provide different bandwidths.

Downlink transport channels for transmission of data from the E-UTRAN tothe UE include a broadcast channel (BCH) for transmission of systeminformation, a paging channel (PCH) for transmission of paging messages,and a downlink shared channel (SCH) for transmission of user traffic orcontrol messages. Traffic or control messages of a downlink multicast orbroadcast service may be transmitted through the downlink SCH and mayalso be transmitted through a separate downlink multicast channel (MCH).

Uplink transport channels for transmission of data from the UE to theE-UTRAN include a random access channel (RACH) for transmission ofinitial control messages and an uplink SCH for transmission of usertraffic or control messages. Logical channels that are defined above thetransport channels and mapped to the transport channels include abroadcast control channel (BCCH), a paging control channel (PCCH), acommon control channel (CCCH), a multicast control channel (MCCH), and amulticast traffic channel (MTCH).

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a physical channel structureused in an E-UMTS system. A physical channel includes several subframeson a time axis and several subcarriers on a frequency axis. Here, onesubframe includes a plurality of symbols on the time axis. One subframeincludes a plurality of resource blocks and one resource block includesa plurality of symbols and a plurality of subcarriers. In addition, eachsubframe may use certain subcarriers of certain symbols (e.g., a firstsymbol) of a subframe for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH),that is, an L1/L2 control channel. The PDCCH carries schedulingassignments and other control information. In FIG. 5, an L1/L2 controlinformation transmission area (PDCCH) and a data area (PDSCH) are shown.In one implementation, a radio frame of 10 ms is used and one radioframe includes 10 subframes. In addition, in LTE, one subframe includestwo consecutive slots. The length of one slot may be 0.5 ms. Inaddition, one subframe includes a plurality of OFDM symbols and aportion (e.g., a first symbol) of the plurality of OFDM symbols may beused for transmitting the L1/L2 control information.

A time interval in which one subframe is transmitted is defined as atransmission time interval (TTI). Time resources may be distinguished bya radio frame number (or radio frame index), a subframe number (orsubframe index), a slot number (or slot index), and the like. TTI refersto an interval during which data may be scheduled. For example, in the3GPP LTE/LTE-A system, an opportunity of transmission of an UL grant ora DL grant is present every 1 ms, and the UL/DL grant opportunity doesnot exists several times in less than 1 ms. Therefore, the TTI in thelegacy 3GPP LTE/LTE-A system is 1 ms.

A base station and a UE mostly transmit/receive data via a PDSCH, whichis a physical channel, using a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) which isa transmission channel, except a certain control signal or certainservice data. Information indicating to which UE (one or a plurality ofUEs) PDSCH data is transmitted and how the UE receive and decode PDSCHdata is transmitted in a state of being included in the PDCCH.

For example, in one implementation, a certain PDCCH is CRC-masked with aradio network temporary identity (RNTI) “A” and information about datais transmitted using a radio resource “B” (e.g., a frequency location)and transmission format information “C” (e.g., a transmission blocksize, modulation, coding information or the like) via a certainsubframe. Then, one or more UEs located in a cell monitor the PDCCHusing its RNTI information. And, a specific UE with RNTI “A” reads thePDCCH and then receives the PDSCH indicated by B and C in the PDCCHinformation. In the present disclosure, a PDCCH addressed to an RNTIrefers to the PDCCH being cyclic redundancy check masked (CRC-masked)with the RNTI. A UE may attempt to decode a PDCCH using the certain RNTIif the UE is monitoring a PDCCH addressed to the certain RNTI.

A fully mobile and connected society is expected in the near future,which will be characterized by a tremendous amount of growth inconnectivity, traffic volume and a much broader range of usagescenarios. Some typical trends include explosive growth of data traffic,great increase of connected devices and continuous emergence of newservices. Besides the market requirements, the mobile communicationsociety itself also requires a sustainable development of theeco-system, which produces the needs to further improve systemefficiencies, such as spectrum efficiency, energy efficiency,operational efficiency, and cost efficiency. To meet the aboveever-increasing requirements from market and mobile communicationsociety, next generation access technologies are expected to emerge inthe near future.

Building upon its success of IMT-2000 (3G) and IMT-Advanced (4G), 3GPPhas been devoting its effort to IMT-2020 (5G) development sinceSeptember 2015. 5G New Radio (NR) is expected to expand and supportdiverse use case scenarios and applications that will continue beyondthe current IMT-Advanced standard, for instance, enhanced MobileBroadband (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) andmassive Machine Type Communication (mMTC). eMBB is targeting high datarate mobile broadband services, such as seamless data access bothindoors and outdoors, and AR/VR applications; URLLC is defined forapplications that have stringent latency and reliability requirements,such as vehicular communications that can enable autonomous driving andcontrol network in industrial plants; mMTC is the basis for connectivityin IoT, which allows for infrastructure management, environmentalmonitoring, and healthcare applications.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of protocol stacks of a next generationwireless communication system. In particular, FIG. 6(a) illustrates anexample of a radio interface user plane protocol stack between a UE anda gNB and FIG. 6(b) illustrates an example of a radio interface controlplane protocol stack between a UE and a gNB.

The control plane refers to a path through which control messages usedto manage call by a UE and a network are transported. The user planerefers to a path through which data generated in an application layer,for example, voice data or Internet packet data are transported.

Referring to FIG. 6(a), the user plane protocol stack may be dividedinto a first layer (Layer 1) (i.e., a physical layer (PHY) layer) and asecond layer (Layer 2).

Referring to FIG. 6(b), the control plane protocol stack may be dividedinto Layer 1 (i.e., a PHY layer), Layer 2, Layer 3 (e.g., a radioresource control (RRC) layer), and a non-access stratum (NAS) layer.

The overall protocol stack architecture for the NR system might besimilar to that of the LTE/LTE-A system, but some functionalities of theprotocol stacks of the LTE/LTE-A system should be modified in the NRsystem in order to resolve the weakness or drawback of LTE. RAN WG2 forNR is in charge of the radio interface architecture and protocols. Thenew functionalities of the control plane include the following:on-demand system information delivery to reduce energy consumption andmitigate interference, two-level (i.e. Radio Resource Control (RRC) andMedium Access Control (MAC)) mobility to implement seamless handover,beam based mobility management to accommodate high frequency, RRCinactive state to reduce state transition latency and improve UE batterylife. The new functionalities of the user plane aim at latency reductionby optimizing existing functionalities, such as concatenation andreordering relocation, and RLC out of order delivery. In addition, a newuser plane AS protocol layer named as Service Data Adaptation Protocol(SDAP) has been introduced to handle flow-based Quality of Service (QoS)framework in RAN, such as mapping between QoS flow and a data radiobearer, and QoS flow ID marking. Hereinafter the layer 2 according tothe current agreements for NR is briefly discussed.

The layer 2 of NR is split into the following sublayers: Medium AccessControl (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), Packet Data ConvergenceProtocol (PDCP) and Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP). Thephysical layer offers to the MAC sublayer transport channels, the MACsublayer offers to the RLC sublayer logical channels, the RLC sublayeroffers to the PDCP sublayer RLC channels, the PDCP sublayer offers tothe SDAP sublayer radio bearers, and the SDAP sublayer offers to 5GC QoSflows. Radio bearers are categorized into two groups: data radio bearers(DRB) for user plane data and signalling radio bearers (SRB) for controlplane data.

The main services and functions of the MAC sublayer of NR include:mapping between logical channels and transport channels;multiplexing/demultiplexing of MAC SDUs belonging to one or differentlogical channels into/from transport blocks (TB) delivered to/from thephysical layer on transport channels; scheduling information reporting;error correction through HARQ (one HARQ entity per carrier in case ofcarrier aggregation); priority handling between UEs by dynamicscheduling; priority handling between logical channels of one UE bylogical channel prioritization; and padding. A single MAC entity cansupport one or multiple numerologies and/or transmission timings, andmapping restrictions in logical channel prioritisation controls whichnumerology and/or transmission timing a logical channel can use.

The RLC sublayer of NR supports three transmission modes: TransparentMode (TM); Unacknowledged Mode (UM); Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLCconfiguration is per logical channel with no dependency on numerologiesand/or TTI durations, and ARQ can operate on any of the numerologiesand/or TTI durations the logical channel is configured with. For SRB0,paging and broadcast system information, TM mode is used. For other SRBsAM mode used. For DRBs, either UM or AM mode are used. The main servicesand functions of the RLC sublayer depend on the transmission mode andinclude: transfer of upper layer PDUs; sequence numbering independent ofthe one in PDCP (UM and AM); error correction through ARQ (AM only);segmentation (AM and UM) and re-segmentation (AM only) of RLC SDUs;Reassembly of SDU (AM and UM); duplicate detection (AM only); RLC SDUdiscard (AM and UM); RLC re-establishment; and protocol error detection(AM only). The ARQ within the RLC sublayer of NR has the followingcharacteristics: ARQ retransmits RLC PDUs or RLC PDU segments based onRLC status reports; polling for RLC status report is used when needed byRLC; and RLC receiver can also trigger RLC status report after detectinga missing RLC PDU or RLC PDU segment.

The main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer of NR for the userplane include: sequence numbering; header compression and decompression(ROHC only); transfer of user data; reordering and duplicate detection;PDCP PDU routing (in case of split bearers); retransmission of PDCPSDUs; ciphering, deciphering and integrity protection; PDCP SDU discard;PDCP re-establishment and data recovery for RLC AM; and duplication ofPDCP PDUs. The main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer of NRfor the control plane include: sequence numbering; ciphering,deciphering and integrity protection; transfer of control plane data;reordering and duplicate detection; and duplication of PDCP PDUs.

The main services and functions of SDAP include: mapping between a QoSflow and a data radio bearer; marking QoS flow ID (QFI) in both DL andUL packets. A single protocol entity of SDAP is configured for eachindividual PDU session. Compared to LTE's QoS framework, which isbearer-based, the 5G system adopts the QoS flow-based framework. The QoSflow-based framework enables flexible mapping of QoS flow to DRB bydecoupling QoS flow and the radio bearer, allowing more flexible QoScharacteristic configuration.

The main services and functions of RRC sublayer of NR include: broadcastof system information related to access stratum (AS) and non-accessstratum (NAS); paging initiated by a 5GC or an NG-RAN; establishment,maintenance, and release of RRC connection between a UE and a NG-RAN(which further includes modification and release of carrier aggregationand further includes modification and release of the DC between anE-UTRAN and an NR or in the NR; a security function including keymanagement; establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release ofSRB(s) and DRB(s); handover and context transfer; UE cell selection andre-release and control of cell selection/re-selection; a mobilityfunction including mobility between RATs; a QoS management function, UEmeasurement report, and report control; detection of radio link failureand discovery from radio link failure; and NAS message transfer to a UEfrom a NAS and NAS message transfer to the NAS from the UE.

Hereinafter, 5G communication system is briefly introduced.

Three main requirement categories for 5G include (1) a category ofenhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), (2) a category of massive machine typecommunication (mMTC), and (3) a category of ultra-reliable and lowlatency communications (URLLC).

Partial use cases may require a plurality of categories for optimizationand other use cases may focus only upon one key performance indicator(KPI). 5G supports such various use cases using a flexible and reliablemethod.

eMBB far surpasses basic mobile Internet access and covers abundantbidirectional work and media and entertainment applications in cloud andaugmented reality. Data is one of 5G core motive forces and, in a 5Gera, a dedicated voice service may not be provided for the first time.In 5G, it is expected that voice will be simply processed as anapplication program using data connection provided by a communicationsystem. Main causes for increased traffic volume are due to an increasein the size of content and an increase in the number of applicationsrequiring high data transmission rate. A streaming service (of audio andvideo), conversational video, and mobile Internet access will be morewidely used as more devices are connected to the Internet. These manyapplication programs require connectivity of an always turned-on statein order to push real-time information and alarm for users. Cloudstorage and applications are rapidly increasing in a mobilecommunication platform and may be applied to both work andentertainment. The cloud storage is a special use case which acceleratesgrowth of uplink data transmission rate. 5G is also used for remote workof cloud. When a tactile interface is used, 5G demands much lowerend-to-end latency to maintain user good experience. Entertainment, forexample, cloud gaming and video streaming, is another core element whichincreases demand for mobile broadband capability. Entertainment isessential for a smartphone and a tablet in any place including highmobility environments such as a train, a vehicle, and an airplane. Otheruse cases are augmented reality for entertainment and informationsearch. In this case, the augmented reality requires very low latencyand instantaneous data volume.

In addition, one of the most expected 5G use cases relates a functioncapable of smoothly connecting embedded sensors in all fields, i.e.,mMTC. It is expected that the number of potential IoT devices will reach204 hundred million up to the year of 2020. An industrial IoT is one ofcategories of performing a main role enabling a smart city, assettracking, smart utility, agriculture, and security infrastructurethrough 5G.

URLLC includes a new service that will change industry through remotecontrol of main infrastructure and an ultra-reliable/availablelow-latency link such as a self-driving vehicle. A level of reliabilityand latency is essential to control a smart grid, automatize industry,achieve robotics, and control and adjust a drone.

5G is a means of providing streaming evaluated as a few hundred megabitsper second to gigabits per second and may complement fiber-to-the-home(FTTH) and cable-based broadband (or DOCSIS). Such fast speed is neededto deliver TV in resolution of 4K or more (6K, 8K, and more), as well asvirtual reality and augmented reality. Virtual reality (VR) andaugmented reality (AR) applications include almost immersive sportsgames. A specific application program may require a special networkconfiguration. For example, for VR games, gaming companies need toincorporate a core server into an edge network server of a networkoperator in order to minimize latency.

Automotive is expected to be a new important motivated force in 5Gtogether with many use cases for mobile communication for vehicles. Forexample, entertainment for passengers requires high simultaneouscapacity and mobile broadband with high mobility. This is because futureusers continue to expect connection of high quality regardless of theirlocations and speeds. Another use case of an automotive field is an ARdashboard. The AR dashboard causes a driver to identify an object in thedark in addition to an object seen from a front window and displays adistance from the object and a movement of the object by overlappinginformation talking to the driver. In the future, a wireless moduleenables communication between vehicles, information exchange between avehicle and supporting infrastructure, and information exchange betweena vehicle and other connected devices (e.g., devices accompanied by apedestrian). A safety system guides alternative courses of a behavior sothat a driver may drive more safely drive, thereby lowering the dangerof an accident. The next stage will be a remotely controlled orself-driven vehicle. This requires very high reliability and very fastcommunication between different self-driven vehicles and between avehicle and infrastructure. In the future, a self-driven vehicle willperform all driving activities and a driver will focus only uponabnormal traffic that the vehicle cannot identify. Technicalrequirements of a self-driven vehicle demand ultra-low latency andultra-high reliability so that traffic safety is increased to a levelthat cannot be achieved by human being.

A smart city and a smart home/building mentioned as a smart society willbe embedded in a high-density wireless sensor network. A distributednetwork of an intelligent sensor will identify conditions for costs andenergy-efficient maintenance of a city or a home. Similar configurationsmay be performed for respective households. All of temperature sensors,window and heating controllers, burglar alarms, and home appliances arewirelessly connected. Many of these sensors are typically low in datatransmission rate, power, and cost. However, real-time HD video may bedemanded by a specific type of device to perform monitoring.

Consumption and distribution of energy including heat or gas isdistributed at a higher level so that automated control of thedistribution sensor network is demanded. The smart grid collectsinformation and connects the sensors to each other using digitalinformation and communication technology so as to act according to thecollected information. Since this information may include behaviors of asupply company and a consumer, the smart grid may improve distributionof fuels such as electricity by a method having efficiency, reliability,economic feasibility, production sustainability, and automation. Thesmart grid may also be regarded as another sensor network having lowlatency.

Mission critical application (e.g. e-health) is one of 5G use scenarios.A health part contains many application programs capable of enjoyingbenefit of mobile communication. A communication system may supportremote treatment that provides clinical treatment in a faraway place.Remote treatment may aid in reducing a barrier against distance andimprove access to medical services that cannot be continuously availablein a faraway rural area. Remote treatment is also used to performimportant treatment and save lives in an emergency situation. Thewireless sensor network based on mobile communication may provide remotemonitoring and sensors for parameters such as heart rate and bloodpressure.

Wireless and mobile communication gradually becomes important in thefield of an industrial application. Wiring is high in installation andmaintenance cost. Therefore, a possibility of replacing a cable withreconstructible wireless links is an attractive opportunity in manyindustrial fields. However, in order to achieve this replacement, it isnecessary for wireless connection to be established with latency,reliability, and capacity similar to those of the cable and managementof wireless connection needs to be simplified. Low latency and a verylow error probability are new requirements when connection to 5G isneeded.

Logistics and freight tracking are important use cases for mobilecommunication that enables inventory and package tracking anywhere usinga location-based information system. The use cases of logistics andfreight typically demand low data rate but require location informationwith a wide range and reliability.

FIG. 7 illustrates a data flow example at a transmitting device in theNR system.

In FIG. 7, an RB denotes a radio bearer. Referring to FIG. 7, atransport block is generated by MAC by concatenating two RLC PDUs fromRBx and one RLC PDU from RBy. In FIG. 7, the two RLC PDUs from RBx eachcorresponds to one IP packet (n and n+1) while the RLC PDU from RBy is asegment of an IP packet (m). In NR, a RLC SDU segment can be located inthe beginning part of a MAC PDU and/or in the ending part of the MACPDU. The MAC PDU is transmitted/received using radio resources through aphysical layer to/from an external device.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a slot structure available in a newradio access technology (NR).

To reduce or minimize data transmission latency, in a 5G new RAT, a slotstructure in which a control channel and a data channel aretime-division-multiplexed is considered.

In the example of FIG. 8, the hatched area represents the transmissionregion of a DL control channel (e.g., PDCCH) carrying the DCI, and theblack area represents the transmission region of a UL control channel(e.g., PUCCH) carrying the UCI. Here, the DCI is control informationthat the gNB transmits to the UE. The DCI may include information oncell configuration that the UE should know, DL specific information suchas DL scheduling, and UL specific information such as UL grant. The UCIis control information that the UE transmits to the gNB. The UCI mayinclude a HARQ ACK/NACK report on the DL data, a CSI report on the DLchannel status, and a scheduling request (SR).

In the example of FIG. 8, the region of symbols from symbol index 1 tosymbol index 12 may be used for transmission of a physical channel(e.g., a PDSCH) carrying downlink data, or may be used for transmissionof a physical channel (e.g., PUSCH) carrying uplink data. According tothe slot structure of FIG. 8, DL transmission and UL transmission may besequentially performed in one slot, and thus transmission/reception ofDL data and reception/transmission of UL ACK/NACK for the DL data may beperformed in one slot. As a result, the time taken to retransmit datawhen a data transmission error occurs may be reduced, thereby minimizingthe latency of final data transmission.

In such a slot structure, a time gap is needed for the process ofswitching from the transmission mode to the reception mode or from thereception mode to the transmission mode of the gNB and UE. On behalf ofthe process of switching between the transmission mode and the receptionmode, some OFDM symbols at the time of switching from DL to UL in theslot structure are set as a guard period (GP).

In the legacy LTE/LTE-A system, a DL control channel istime-division-multiplexed with a data channel and a PDCCH, which is acontrol channel, is transmitted throughout an entire system band.However, in the new RAT, it is expected that a bandwidth of one systemreaches approximately a minimum of 100 MHz and it is difficult todistribute the control channel throughout the entire band fortransmission of the control channel. For data transmission/reception ofa UE, if the entire band is monitored to receive the DL control channel,this may cause increase in battery consumption of the UE anddeterioration in efficiency. Accordingly, in the present disclosure, theDL control channel may be locally transmitted or distributivelytransmitted in a partial frequency band in a system band, i.e., achannel band.

In the NR system, the basic transmission unit is a slot. A duration ofthe slot includes 14 symbols having a normal cyclic prefix (CP) or 12symbols having an extended CP. In addition, the slot is scaled in timeas a function of a used subcarrier spacing.

Hereinafter, the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) architectureand the SDAP entity are described.

FIG. 9 shows a structure for the SDAP sublayer. However, FIG. 9illustrates one possible structure for the SDAP sublayer, and it shouldnot restrict implementation.

The SDAP sublayer is configured by RRC. The SDAP sublayer maps QoS flowsto DRBs. One or more QoS flows may be mapped onto one DRB. One QoS flowis mapped onto only one DRB at a time in the UL.

The SDAP entities are located in the SDAP sublayer. Several SDAPentities may be defined for a UE. There is an SDAP entity configured foreach individual PDU session.

An SDAP entity receives/delivers SDAP SDUs from/to upper layers andsends/receives SDAP PDUs to/from its peer SDAP entity via lower layers.

At the transmitting side, when an SDAP entity receives an SDAP SDU fromupper layers, it constructs the corresponding SDAP PDU and delivers itto lower layers;

At the receiving side, when an SDAP entity receives an SDAP PDU fromlower layers, it retrieves the corresponding SDAP SDU and delivers it toupper layers.

According to NR standard, 5GC (5G Core Network) establishes one or morePDU sessions which refer associations between UE and DN (Data Networks)that provide PDU connectivity services (e.g., operator services,Internet access or 3rd party services). Because a QoS flow is the finestgranularity of QoS differentiation in the PDU session, the 5GC decidesQoS parameters and QoS characteristics for each QoS flow based on theservice requirements.

Also, the 5GC provides both NG-RAN (e.g., gNB and ng-eNB) and UE withthe QoS parameters and QoS characteristics when the PDU session for aPDU connectivity service is established. At that time, the NG-RANestablishes one or more DRB (Data Radio Bearers) based on the QoSparameters and QoS characte

ristics of the QoS flows. A single protocol entity of SDAP is configuredfor each individual PDU session.

While, IAB (Integrated access and backhaul) based radio access network(RAN) architecture consists of one or more IAB nodes, which supportwireless access to UEs and wirelessly backhauls the access traffic, andone or more IAB donors which provide UE's interface to core network andwireless backhauling functionality to IAB nodes.

FIG. 10 shows integrated access and backhaul (IAB) based RANarchitectures.

Referring to FIG. 10, IAB (Integrated access and backhaul) based RANarchitectures consist of one or more IAB nodes, which support wirelessaccess to UEs and wirelessly backhauls the access traffic, and one ormore IAB donors which provide UE's interface to core network andwireless backhauling functionality to IAB nodes. Because these IAB nodestake only charge of relaying of UE's access traffic by sharing radioresources between access and backhaul links, the 5GC does NOT establishany PDU sessions for PDU connectivity services. So, IAB nodes are NOTneed to configure any SDAP entities.

FIG. 11 shows user plane (UP) radio protocol stacks between an IAB-nodeand IAB-donor for sending control messages in IAB based RANarchitectures.

Referring to FIG. 11, it can be noted that the SDAP entity is configuredto treat control messages, not PDU connectivity service data.

In other words, the IAB node forwards UE or other IAB node's RRCmessages and F1-AP messages to the IAB donor via a DRB. Because the PDUsession associated with the SDAP entity should be established, thefollowing impacts on 5GC and IAB nodes are made:

-   -   IAB nodes should perform NAS procedures for session management.    -   SMF (Session Management Function) for IAB nodes should be        deployed in order to establish the PDU session for RRC and F1-AP        messages.    -   New DN name should be defined so that SMF can be aware that the        PDU session for RRC and F1-AP message is required.    -   SMF should select UPF in the IAB donor, which has RRC connection        with the IAB node, as PDU session anchor.    -   SMF should provide QoS differentiation in the PDU session        depending on message type (e.g., each RRC message related to SRB        0, SRB 1, SRB 2 and SRB 3, and F1-AP message).

According to the NR standard, IAB design shall strive to minimize theimpact to core network specifications. The 5GC does NOT have to beaffected by the design for transmission of the RRC and F1-AP messagesirrelevant to 5GC. Therefore, new method for handling SDAP entity isneeded in the IAB based RAN architectures.

According to the present invention, it is suggested that an IAB nodeshould establish an SDAP entity if pdu-Session of the received SDAPconfiguration is a special value, or the pdu-Session is not included inthe received SDAP configuration.

First Embodiment

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, it isassumed that pdu-Session is always included in SDAP configuration.

The special value of pdu-Session can be defined in the following twoways:

-   -   The special value can be pre-defined. For example, the special        value can be all ‘0’ (i.e., 00000000) or all ‘1’ (i.e.,        11111111).    -   The special value can configured by the network. Especially, the        special value can be configured per IAB node. Further, the        special value can be sent to the IAB node during the        procedure(s) of RRC connection (re)configuration.

Furthermore, an IAB node indicates the special value to upper layers sothat the upper layers do NOT use the special value for other purposes,e.g., identity of PDU session for PDU connectivity services.

When an IAB node receives SDAP configuration for a new DRB, if there isPDU session indicated by pdu-Session of the received SDAP configurationand if an SDAP entity with the received pdu-Session does not exist, theIAB node shall establish an SDAP entity related to user data, configurethe SDAP entity in accordance with the received SDAP configuration, andindicate the establishment of the SDAP entity and the pdu-Session toupper layers.

However, if SDAP entity with the received pdu-Session exists, the IABnode shall configure the SDAP entity related to user data in accordancewith the received SDAP configuration.

Further, if pdu-Session of the received SDAP configuration is a specialvalue and if an SDAP entity with the received pdu-Session does notexist, the IAB node shall establish an SDAP entity related to controldata, configure the SDAP entity in accordance with the received SDAPconfiguration, and indicate the establishment of the SDAP entity and/orpdu-Session (i.e., special value) to upper layers. In this case, thespecial value is excluded from identities for a PDU session for userdata.

However, if SDAP entity with the received pdu-Session exists, the IABnode shall configure the SDAP entity related to control data inaccordance with the received SDAP configuration.

Second Embodiment

According to the Second embodiment of the present invention, it isassumed that pdu-Session may not be included in SDAP configuration.

When an IAB node receives SDAP configuration for a new DRB, ifpdu-Session is included in the received SDAP configuration and if anSDAP entity with the received pdu-Session does not exist, the IAB nodeshall establish an SDAP entity related to user data, configure the SDAPentity related to user data in accordance with the received SDAPconfiguration, and indicate the establishment of the SDAP entity and thepdu-Session to upper layers. However, if the SDAP entity with thereceived pdu-Session exists, the IAB node shall configure the SDAPentity in accordance with the received SDAP configuration.

Further, if pdu-Session is not included in the received SDAPconfiguration and if an SDAP entity without pdu-Session does not exist,the IAB node shall establish an SDAP entity related to control data,configure the SDAP entity related to control data in accordance with thereceived SDAP configuration, and indicate the establishment of the SDAPentity without pdu-Session to upper layers. But, if the SDAP entitywithout pdu-Session exists, the IAB node shall configure the SDAP entityrelated to control data in accordance with the received SDAPconfiguration.

Preferably, packets to be submitted to the SDAP entity, which has beenestablished for IAB-specific purpose of control data transmission, canbe mapped to a QoS flow based on the mapping rules between message andQoS flow. Table 1 shows an example of mapping rule between message andQoS flow.

TABLE 1 Message type QoS flow ID RRC message - SRB 0 0 RRC message - SRB1 1 RRC message - SRB 2 2 RRC message - SRB 3 3 F1-AP management message4

FIG. 12 shows a flow chart for processing signals according to anembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 12, in S1201, the relay node (i.e., IAB node) mayreceives SDAP configuration from a network. For convenience, it isassumed that pdu-Session is always included in SDAP configuration.

Next, in S1203, the relay node may determine whether the pdu-Sessionincluded in the received SDAP configuration is a special value or not.Preferably, information about the special value should be received fromthe network in advance. Or, the special value may be predetermined.

If the pdu-Session is the special value, the relay node may establish anSDAP entity for control data based on the SDAP configuration accordingto S1205. Especially, it is prefer that the special value should beexcluded from identities for a PDU session for user data. The relay nodetransmits and receives the control data via the SDAP entity for controldata.

While, if the pdu-Session is not the special value, the relay node mayestablish an SDAP entity for user data based on the SDAP configurationaccording to S1207. Similarly, the relay node transmits and receives theuser data via the SDAP entity for user data.

Of course, when the pdu-Session is not included in the received SDAPconfiguration, the relay node may establish an SDAP entity for controldata based on the SDAP configuration.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of elements of atransmitting device 100 and a receiving device 200 according to someimplementations of the present disclosure.

The transmitting device 100 and the receiving device 200 respectivelyinclude transceivers 13 and 23 capable of transmitting and receivingradio signals carrying information, data, signals, and/or messages,memories 12 and 22 for storing information related to communication in awireless communication system, and processors 11 and 21 operationallyconnected to elements such as the transceivers 13 and 23 and thememories 12 and 22 to control the elements and configured to control thememories 12 and 22 and/or the transceivers 13 and 23 so that acorresponding device may perform at least one of the above-describedimplementations of the present disclosure.

The memories 12 and 22 may store programs for processing and controllingthe processors 11 and 21 and may temporarily store input/outputinformation. The memories 12 and 22 may be used as buffers. The buffersat each protocol layer (e.g. PDCP, RLC, MAC) are parts of the memories12 and 22.

The processors 11 and 21 generally control the overall operation ofvarious modules in the transmitting device and the receiving device.Especially, the processors 11 and 21 may perform various controlfunctions to implement the present disclosure. For example, theoperations occurring at the protocol stacks (e.g. PDCP, RLC, MAC and PHYlayers) according to the present disclosure may be performed by theprocessors 11 and 21. The protocol stacks performing operations of thepresent disclosure may be parts of the processors 11 and 21.

The processors 11 and 21 may be referred to as controllers,microcontrollers, microprocessors, or microcomputers. The processors 11and 21 may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or acombination thereof. In a hardware configuration, application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digitalsignal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), orfield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) may be included in the processors11 and 21. The present disclosure may be implemented using firmware orsoftware, and the firmware or software may be configured to includemodules, procedures, functions, etc. performing the functions oroperations of the present disclosure. Firmware or software configured toperform the present disclosure may be included in the processors 11 and21 or stored in the memories 12 and 22 so as to be driven by theprocessors 11 and 21.

The processor 11 of the transmitting device 100 performs predeterminedcoding and modulation for a signal and/or data scheduled to betransmitted to the outside by the processor 11 or a scheduler connectedwith the processor 11, and then transfers the coded and modulated datato the transceiver 13. For example, the processor 11 converts a datastream to be transmitted into K layers through demultiplexing, channelcoding, scrambling, and modulation. The coded data stream is alsoreferred to as a codeword and is equivalent to a transport block whichis a data block provided by a MAC layer. One transport block (TB) iscoded into one codeword and each codeword is transmitted to thereceiving device in the form of one or more layers. For frequencyup-conversion, the transceiver 13 may include an oscillator. Thetransceiver 13 may include Nt (where Nt is a positive integer)transmission antennas.

A signal processing process of the receiving device 200 is the reverseof the signal processing process of the transmitting device 100. Undercontrol of the processor 21, the transceiver 23 of the receiving device200 receives radio signals transmitted by the transmitting device 100.The transceiver 23 may include Nr (where Nr is a positive integer)receive antennas and frequency down-converts each signal receivedthrough receive antennas into a baseband signal. The processor 21decodes and demodulates the radio signals received through the receptionantennas and restores data that the transmitting device 100 intended totransmit.

The transceivers 13 and 23 include one or more antennas. An antennaperforms a function for transmitting signals processed by thetransceivers 13 and 23 to the exterior or receiving radio signals fromthe exterior to transfer the radio signals to the transceivers 13 and23. The antenna may also be called an antenna port. Each antenna maycorrespond to one physical antenna or may be configured by a combinationof more than one physical antenna element. The signal transmitted fromeach antenna cannot be further deconstructed by the receiving device200. An RS transmitted through a corresponding antenna defines anantenna from the view point of the receiving device 200 and enables thereceiving device 200 to derive channel estimation for the antenna,irrespective of whether the channel represents a single radio channelfrom one physical antenna or a composite channel from a plurality ofphysical antenna elements including the antenna. That is, an antenna isdefined such that a channel carrying a symbol of the antenna can beobtained from a channel carrying another symbol of the same antenna. Antransceiver supporting a MIMO function of transmitting and receivingdata using a plurality of antennas may be connected to two or moreantennas. The transceivers 13 and 23 may be referred to as radiofrequency (RF) units.

In the implementations of the present disclosure, a UE operates as thetransmitting device 100 in UL and as the receiving device 200 in DL. Inthe implementations of the present disclosure, a BS operates as thereceiving device 200 in UL and as the transmitting device 100 in DL.Hereinafter, a processor, a transceiver, and a memory included in the UEwill be referred to as a UE processor, a UE transceiver, and a UEmemory, respectively, and a processor, a transceiver, and a memoryincluded in the BS will be referred to as a BS processor, a BStransceiver, and a BS memory, respectively.

The UE processor can be configured to operate according to the presentdisclosure, or control the UE transceiver to receive or transmit signalsaccording to the present disclosure. The BS processor can be configuredto operate according to the present disclosure, or control the BStransceiver to receive or transmit signals according to the presentdisclosure.

The processor 11 (at a UE and/or at a BS) checks whether there is a ULgrant or DL assignment for a serving cell in a time unit. If there is aUL grant or DL assignment for the serving cell in the time unit, theprocessor 11 checks whether a data unit is actually present on the ULgrant or DL assignment in the time unit, in order to determine whetherto restart a deactivation timer associated with the serving cell whichhas been started. The processor 11 restarts the deactivation timerassociated with the serving cell in the time unit if there is a dataunit present on the UL grant or DL assignment in the time unit. Theprocessor 11 does not restart the deactivation timer associated with theserving cell in the time unit if there is no data unit present on the ULgrant or DL assignment in the time unit, unless another condition thatthe processor 11 should restart the deactivation timer is satisfied. Theprocessor 11 does not restart the deactivation timer associated with theserving cell in the time unit if there is no data unit present on the ULgrant or DL assignment in the time unit and if an activation command foractivating the serving cell is not present in the time unit. Theprocessor 11 may be configured to check whether a data unit is actuallypresent on the UL grant or DL assignment on the serving cell in the timeunit in order to determine whether to restart the deactivation timer ofthe serving cell, if the UL grant or DL assignment is a configuredgrant/assignment which is configured by RRC to occur periodically on theserving cell. The processor 11 may be configured to check whether a dataunit is actually present on the UL grant or DL assignment on the servingcell in the time unit in order to determine whether to restart thedeactivation timer of the serving cell, if the UL grant or the DLassignment is a dynamic grant/assignment which is indicated by a PDCCH.The processor 11 may be configured to check whether a data unit isactually present on the UL grant or DL assignment on the serving cell inthe time unit in order to determine whether to restart the deactivationtimer of the serving cell, if the serving cell is a SCell of the UE. Theprocessor 11 (at the UE and/or the BS) deactivates the serving cell uponexpiry of the deactivation timer associated with the serving cell.

In the present disclosure, a user equipment (UE) may include, forexample, a cellular phone, a smartphone, a laptop computer, a digitalbroadcast terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portablemultimedia player (PMP), a navigation system, a slate personal computer(PC), a tablet PC, an ultrabook, a wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch,a smartglass, or head mounted display (HMD)), and the like. The HMD maybe, for example, a type of display device that is worn on the head. Forexample, the HMD may be used to implement virtual reality (VR),augmented reality (AR), or mixed reality (MR).

In the present disclosure, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may be, forexample, an aircraft without a human being onboard, which aviates by awireless control signal. In the present disclosure, a VR device mayinclude, for example, a device for implementing an object or abackground of the virtual world. The AR device may include, for example,a device implemented by connecting an object or a background of thevirtual world to an object or a background of the real world. In thepresent disclosure, a MR device may include, for example, a deviceimplemented by merging an object or a background of the virtual worldinto an object or a background of the real world. In the presentdisclosure, a hologram device may include, for example, a device forimplementing a stereoscopic image of 360 degrees by recording andreproducing stereoscopic information, using an interference phenomenonof light generated when two laser lights called holography meet. Thepublic safety device may include, for example, an image relay device oran image device that is wearable on the body of a user. In the presentdisclosure, a MTC device and a IoT device may be, for example, devicesthat do not require direct human intervention or manipulation. Forexample, the MTC device and the IoT device may include smartmeters,vending machines, thermometers, smartbulbs, door locks, or varioussensors. In the present disclosure, a medical device may be, forexample, a device used for the purpose of diagnosing, treating,relieving, curing, or preventing disease. For example, the medicaldevice may be a device used for the purpose of diagnosing, treating,relieving, or correcting injury or impairment. For example, the medicaldevice may be a device used for the purpose of inspecting, replacing, ormodifying a structure or a function. For example, the medical device maybe a device used for the purpose of adjusting pregnancy. For example,the medical device may include a device for treatment, a device foroperation, a device for (in vitro) diagnosis, a hearing aid, or a devicefor procedure. In the present disclosure, a security device may be, forexample, a device installed to prevent a danger that may arise and tomaintain safety. For example, the security device may be a camera, aCCTV, a recorder, or a black box. In the present disclosure, a FinTechdevice may be, for example, a device capable of providing a financialservice such as mobile payment. For example, the FinTech device mayinclude a payment device or a point of sales (POS) system. Theweather/environment device may include, for example, a device formonitoring or predicting a weather/environment.

As described above, the detailed description of the preferredimplementations of the present disclosure has been given to enable thoseskilled in the art to implement and practice the disclosure. Althoughthe disclosure has been described with reference to exemplaryimplementations, those skilled in the art will appreciate that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present disclosurewithout departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure describedin the appended claims. Accordingly, the disclosure should not belimited to the specific implementations described herein, but should beaccorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures disclosed herein.

The implementations of the present disclosure are applicable to anetwork node (e.g., BS), a UE, or other devices in a wirelesscommunication system.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for processing signals by a relay nodein a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receivingService Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) configuration from a network;based on an identifier for a PDU session not being included in thereceived SDAP configuration; establishing a first SDAP entity withoutthe PDU session for control data based on the SDAP configuration;notifying an establishment of the first SDAP entity without the PDUsession to an upper layer; and transmitting and receiving the controldata via the first SDAP entity without the PDU session; and based on theidentifier for the PDU session being included in the received SDAPconfiguration: establishing a second SDAP entity with the PDU sessionfor user data based on the SDAP configuration; notifying anestablishment of the second SDAP entity with the PDU session and theidentifier for the PDU session to the upper layer; and transmitting andreceiving the user data via the second SDAP entity with the PDU session.2. A relay node in a wireless communication system, the relay nodecomprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memoryand configured to: receive Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP)configuration from a network; based on an identifier for a PDU sessionnot being included in the received SDAP configuration: establish a firstSDAP entity without the PDU session for control data based on the SDAPconfiguration, notify an establishment of the first SDAP entity withoutthe PDU session to an upper layer, and transmit and receive the controldata via the first SDAP entity without the PDU session; based on theidentifier for the PDU session being included in the received SDAPconfiguration: establish a second SDAP entity with the PDU session foruser data based on the SDAP configuration, notify an establishment ofthe second SDAP entity with the PDU session and the identifier for thePDU session to the upper layer, and transmit and receive the user datavia the second SDAP entity with the PDU session.
 3. The relay node ofclaim 2, wherein the at least one processor is further configured toimplement at least one advanced diver assistance system (ADAS) functionbased on signals that control the relay node.